The Sea of Monsters is the second book in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
The heroic son of Poseidon makes an action-packed comeback in the second must-read installment of Rick Riordan's amazing young readers series. Starring Percy Jackson, a "half blood" whose mother is human and whose father is the God of the Sea, Riordan's series combines cliffhanger adventure and Greek mythology lessons that results in true page-turners that get better with each installment.
In this episode, The Sea of Monsters, Percy sets out to retrieve the Golden Fleece before his summer camp is destroyed, surpassing the first book's drama and setting the stage for more thrills to come.
Review
I read the first book in the Percy Jackson series (The Lightning Thief {review}) a couple of years ago. I decided since the first book was so fun, I'd try The Sea of Monsters on audio. I thought it might ramp up the entertainment value. I think it was a good choice. I liked the narrator, and he did a great job of pulling me into the story.
In The Sea of Monsters, Percy heads back to Camp Half-Blood and immediately takes on a quest to help save the school. It's a fun read, but I didn't come out of it feeling as good as I did after The Lightning Thief. There was something I didn't particularly like about Percy which made me not care much for the characters in general. He's flawed like most boys are his age so I'm probably just being too unforgiving.
Even though The Sea of Monsters wasn't a complete win for me, the series is a lot of fun so far so I will continue on. I have the audio for The Titan's Curse on hold with the library so I can continue on with the audio versions.
For the record, I haven't seen either of the movies. This is just a series I'm working my way through. I will probably watch them once my kids are old enough.
If you enjoy YA fantasy books, this is a good series to pick up and try.
6/10: Good Read
Have you read this series or seen the movies? Did you like them? I'm also curious about Rick Riordan's other series. Have you read those? How do they stack up with Percy Jackson?
I have the Lightening Thief on my shelves and that seems like a good place to start!
ReplyDeleteHi, Harvee. Yes, I would definitely start with The Lightning Thief.
DeleteThanks for sharing, I've been thinking about picking this series up again -- although since you gave it a 6/10, I'm not going to bump it up to "must-read" status just yet!
ReplyDeleteLisa
Yeah, it's good and I plan to keep reading them, but I wouldn't put it into the must read category.
DeleteIt's been a while since I read the Percy Jackson series too. I wonder what the audio is like - was the narrator overly enthusiastic or did he capture the MG voice well? Sounds like the latter for you :D.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Percy didn't you like? You've got me really curious now.
The series is fun--even if they're not my favorites and they've got a bit of corny humor, Riordan is good at incorporating Greek mythology in fresh ways. I learned a lot about GM because of him.
Have you read this series or seen the movies? Did you like them? I'm also curious about Rick Riordan's other series. Have you read those? How do they stack up with Percy Jackson?
^-- Okay. I read the series and liked it decent enough - it's the same with HP; I liked it more as I went along because his voice started to mature. Can't remember a lot of the details though. I saw both movies: second was not a fan at all! SO corny!! I don't know what's going on with those adaptations. The first movie was okay enough. The only other Riordan series I've read - well, I've only read the first book at least - is The Lost Hero, a continuation of PJ. For me it works better than PJ because it's more mature and it switches POVs, which is something I'm a huge fan of. Does that help at all?
I think the narrator did a really great job. He wasn't reading like you would read to kids - just using appropriate voices.
DeletePercy... I don't know, I like my heroes to be flawed but not rude maybe? He acted like a teenager I suppose.
It's good to hear that Percy matures. I'm sure my assessment is unfair, but it is what it is. :) That does help actually. More mature Percy and multiple POVs - I should be reading The Lost Hero.
I loved this series as a whole so much. I haven't read the spin off series though, and before your review I hadn't even though to go the audio rout. Thanks so much for putting this in my head! I think I'll go buy the spin off on audio.
ReplyDeleteI've heard so many good things about this series and loads of people seem to obsess over "Percabeth". I'm 18 now and wondering whether I'm too old to start this series as I thought this was aimed at younger teens. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteLaura @ What's Hot?